With the appearance of a special attacker, one might find it interested that a physical powerhouse stands before you. With subpar stats and what is of now a limited move pool, Gen 6 was not looking to kind to Malamar. Malamar viability skyrocketed with the reveal of her ability Contrary and access to Superpower. This change of events allowed Malamar to Bulk Up attack with its phenomenal coverage.

The crux of this set rests in the Contrary Superpower. Malamar can boost up while spamming a base 120 move. Malamar's own STABs round out the move pool to yield excellent type coverage. The last move slot is available for a plethora of status moves to aid Malamar in punishing the lower tiers.

The Evs are highly dependent on the Speed tiers that develop. One could opt for 252 Atk with Speed investment to have an offensive presence from the get go. While on the other hand, bulky boosting with High Hp and SpD investment seems plausible on paper.

With the addition of Trick Room Malamar's subpar speed is mitigated allowing it to boost up while attacking first. Topsy Turvy can be utilized to punished pokes attempting to boost along side of you.

Other Options:
Rest / Sleep Talk with Super Power and a coverage move seems possible. Choice Scarf set is far to weak to accomplish very much as Malamar lacks the outright power. Chesto Rest could be utilized for recovery until you have some boosts under your belt. Unfortunately chesto rest would forgo much needed items.

Calcs:

Checks and Counters:
Malamar's speed is a large hindrance. She can easily be outsped before she can set up. Without any form of priority or healing Malamar's strength and durability are greatly compromised. Malamar's typing although interesting yields little in terms of resistances. However due to her amazing coverage faster threats will have trouble switching in.

I've had a lot of trouble with Aegislash lately, so I threw on this bad girl on my team, and it works as a decent check. King's Shield sharply raises her attack due to Contrary, and Night Slash usually OHKO's iirc. I also like using Substitute on that last moveslot.

Why no mention of Topsy Turvy? That move is amazing enough I hope it gets decent distribution. I had a match last night, where some guy spent a bunch of turns boosting with Ninjask, then baton passed it to something I don't remember. I hit him with Topsy Turvy on the switch. Have fun with your .4x speed/.5x atk...

Topsy-turvy would make this Pokemon probably one of the best anti-boosting sweepers in the game if it had better speed and defenses. Then again... Topsy-turvy actually helps mitigate that. Imagine if a stronger, faster potential booster came in to force you out and boost on the switch. You Topsy-turvy instead of switching and put them on the back foot. It's going to be interesting, the mind games you can play with this.

Also, I think way you evolve Inkay into Malamar is one of the weirdest and most creative evolutions Game Freak has ever come up with.

Malamar could become really useful if Sticky Web ends up being common. +1 Speed from the get go is amazing, and you can further boost just by attacking with Superpower. Bug-move users are suddenly outsped and dented by +1 Night Slash or Superpower and this guy also gets really good coverage with Night Slash / Superpower / Psycho Cut. If it gets Sucker Punch as an egg move, it might be viable even without Sticky Web being common.

Malamar seems pretty interesting to say the least. She has an odd Dark/Psychic typing (which sadly gives it a 4x weakness to U-turn...) and what seem to be pretty average stats all around, but a great ability and at least one move to utilize it with that might give her a new lease on life at least in the lower tiers. Right now i'm really hoping Malamar gets access to Sucker Punch via egg moves to round off a set of Night Slash/Superpower/Psycho Cut with a strong STAB Priority move but it seems like getting Sucker Punch on her would be a major pain to say at best given her egg groups (Water 1 and Water 2). Even so though....

[14:45] <Agonist> Inkay can learn Trick Room

This seems like an interesting way to help Malamar out in the Speed department if she doesn't end up getting Sucker Punch, although 70ish base Speed isn't outright bad, its not super fast either (130 Speed is the absolute minimum for a Pokemon with base 70 Speed for reference), so i could see Malamar making decent use of it. She could set up Trick Room to gain the Speed advantage for a few turns and repeatedly use Superpower to bulk up her Attack and Defense during that duration, making her both harder to take hits from and harder to take down the longer she stays in without being forced out. So, thoughts on Trick Room Malamar?

Malamar seems pretty interesting to say the least. She has an odd Dark/Psychic typing (which sadly gives it a 4x weakness to U-turn...) and what seem to be pretty average stats all around, but a great ability and at least one move to utilize it with that might give her a new lease on life at least in the lower tiers. Right now i'm really hoping Malamar gets access to Sucker Punch via egg moves to round off a set of Night Slash/Superpower/Psycho Cut with a strong STAB Priority move but it seems like getting Sucker Punch on her would be a major pain to say at best given her egg groups (Water 1 and Water 2). Even so though....

[14:45] <Agonist> Inkay can learn Trick Room

This seems like an interesting way to help Malamar out in the Speed department if she doesn't end up getting Sucker Punch, although 70ish base Speed isn't outright bad, its not super fast either (130 Speed is the absolute minimum for a Pokemon with base 70 Speed for reference), so i could see Malamar making decent use of it. She could set up Trick Room to gain the Speed advantage for a few turns and repeatedly use Superpower to bulk up her Attack and Defense during that duration, making her both harder to take hits from and harder to take down the longer she stays in without being forced out. So, thoughts on Trick Room Malamar?

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I think Malamar has potential on a Trick Room team. She would just need a team mate or two that can cover her major weakness and get rid of any potential checks.

On a side note, I had believed Contrary would cause Swagger to lower the opponents attack but it seems this is not the case. It's really disappointing, because that right there could've potentially sealed her a spot at least as high as UU.

I have not mention Topsy Turvy as I am unsure of its mechanics. If i am at +1 Atk +1 Def after a Superpower and use Topsy Turvy am I know +3 Atk +3 Attack due to Contrary or am I still at as the attack states -1 Atk -1 Def?

If contrary prevents it from dropping my stats Topsy Turvy is truly and amazing move that would prevent people from setting up alongside Malamar. On the other hand if it does cancel out my boosts or turn them into negatives it is in direct hindrance to Malamars saving grace.

You could opt to run Swagger with Topsy Turvy to continuously lower your opponents attack, but that seems gimmicky at best.

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That wouldn't work I would swagger and than topsy turvy making my opponent -2 any further swaggering would raise the attack negating the attack drop. I could swagger 3 times in a row and then topsy turvy but too gimmicky to succeed. More importantly it would be a waste of two much needed moveslots.

I have not mention Topsy Turvy as I am unsure of its mechanics. If i am at +1 Atk +1 Def after a Superpower and use Topsy Turvy am I know +3 Atk +3 Attack due to Contrary or am I still at as the attack states -1 Atk -1 Def?

If contrary prevents it from dropping my stats Topsy Turvy is truly and amazing move that would prevent people from setting up alongside Malamar. On the other hand if it does cancel out my boosts or turn them into negatives it is in direct hindrance to Malamars saving grace.

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Hm? I don't think Topsy Turvy works on the user, just the target. It has no effect on Malamar's stat boosts.

Malamar looks to be incredibly promising especially if Sticky Web is on the field. It does have x4 U-Turn weakness but that is its only weakness. Interesting enough I guess Psychic and Dark really are complete opposites as it has no resistances or weaknesses besides that and its Psychic immunity. Having no resistances is kinda meh but if Blissey can do it!!

Its best sets would seem to be a bulky set hoping for a Sticky Webz boost or a Choice Scarf set w/ Switcheroo. It can clean up with Superpower or cripple an opponents defensive Pokemon, best of both worlds! Sadly enough it doesn't really seem like Topsy Turvy, an amazing move, has a place on Malamar's best sets as its not nearly fast or bulky enough to use it. We shall see.

This set isn't that good but it's very fun. While I don't think it has merit over a more standard Malamar maybe it could be cool in NU on Inkay.
It's quite self explanatory, only problem is fairy now resists both Dark and Fighting. RIP in peace Dark/Fighting STAB combo.

Interesting enough I guess Psychic and Dark really are complete opposites as it has no resistances or weaknesses besides that and its Psychic immunity. Having no resistances is kinda meh but if Blissey can do it!!

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That typing also gives it a fairy weakness as well. Overall, I'd say it's typing is pretty sucky, and it's defenses aren't quite good enough to mitigate that. That's not to say it's a bad pokemon though.

I'm dubious on Sticky Web actually being good for this thing. Contrary affects stat changes specifically. A stat is only one component in determining anything's actual defense/attack/speed potential on the field. Otherwise Life Orb Serperior with Contrary would have lowered his offenses. From what I read on Sticky Web it didn't sound like it actually lowered the opponent's speed stat (which would show the downward blue glitter animation), it simply lowers the team's effective speed. I mean, Tailwind wouldn't make a Contrary user slower I wouldn't think. I'd send this to testing before everyone starts jumping for joy.

I'm dubious on Sticky Web actually being good for this thing. Contrary affects stat changes specifically. A stat is only one component in determining anything's actual defense/attack/speed potential on the field. Otherwise Life Orb Serperior with Contrary would have lowered his offenses. From what I read on Sticky Web it didn't sound like it actually lowered the opponent's speed stat (which would show the downward blue glitter animation), it simply lowers the team's effective speed. I mean, Tailwind wouldn't make a Contrary user slower I wouldn't think. I'd send this to testing before everyone starts jumping for joy.

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It would seem speed just falls on switch in. Pretty sure it will work on Malamar [screenshot from azureAngelic in the Sticky Web thread (lol!!!)]